The 7 Rules About Finding The Right Musicians For Your Band

by Tom Hess

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Want to play in a band?

Here is what you need to know about making a band successful:

In the music business, virtually all bands struggle with finding the right musicians for their band.

(This likely includes some of your favorite bands.)

Very few musicians know how to deal with this and that’s why so many struggle with making a band successful.

Sad, but true.

That said:

You can be one of the musicians who succeeds in finding the right musicians...

...when you understand the 7 rules that go into making a band successful.

Ready to learn them?

Let's begin.

Here are the 7 music business rules you and your band definitely need to know when it comes to playing in a band and finding the right musicians for your band.
 

 

When you’ve succeeded at finding the right musicians who agree to play in a band together, your band is well on your way to becoming successful in the music business.

That’s because – on top of playing in a band – each musician needs to bring a complimentary set of music business skills to the table.

What music business skills do you need to look for when finding the right musicians to play in a band with you?

Here is a partial list:

- understanding how to get gigs, knowing how to put together a tour

- recording skills, songwriting, music promotion

- negotiation, marketing, sales, graphic design, copywriting

And besides all of the above:

One of the keys to making a band successful is having a list of music fans (who will buy your band’s music and merchandise).

So, when finding the right musicians for playing in a band – look for musicians who have access to a list of proven music fans. (“Proven” means: these fans are actively spending money in the music business to support their favorite bands).
 

When you don't succeed at finding the right musicians, your failure in the music business is almost guaranteed.

Why is this rule a “rule” for making a band successful?

2 reasons:

1. Playing in a band and making a band successful is a lot of work. And if you are the one doing ‘all’ of that work (while the other musicians playing in a band with you are just showing up to “play the songs”), it’s almost impossible to get things done fast enough to get anywhere.

2. “Bad” musicians who play in a band with you (who are lazy, entitled, have a bad attitude, have drug/alcohol/legal/cashflow problems) drag your entire band down, even ‘if’ you are able to do all the work that goes into making a band successful by yourself.
 

Everybody talks about becoming successful in the music business, but most of these musicians are merely talkers. Sadly, most musicians who will play in a band with you won’t do the hard work required to becomes successful (beyond playing their instrument). As you go through the process of finding the right musicians – beware of these “talkers”. You do not want them playing in a band with you.



 

To make your band successful requires a very large amount of work and sustained effort, even after you have ‘made it’.

This is the big reason why finding the right musicians for playing in a band with you is so important. Because bands that have only 1-2 band members continuously doing most of the work almost always fail. Even if you succeed at making a band successful in the short term, the workload inevitably becomes too much for any one person to handle.

Pat O’Bryan once stated:

“You’d be amazed at how many artists and musicians are just sitting around waiting to be discovered while they continue to do the same thing all the other musicians and artists are doing.

“Losers, losing by following losers. Not much of a plan, but it’s pretty popular.”

 

Musicians who are talented only at playing their instrument are not much use for making a band successful. Wasting your time, energy and career on such musicians will drag your music career down, drain your ambition and kill your dream. If you want to make it in the music business, you absolutely can NOT afford to settle for the wrong musicians no matter how talented they are musically – even if they are your personal friends.
 

Most of 'the right musicians’ are just like you. They’re frustrated with their lack of success in finding the right musicians. And they are desperately looking for YOU, just as much as you are looking for them.
 

Many musicians already in successful bands are frustrated with some of their bandmates. Don’t think that just because they are already in a band, they aren’t open to either leaving that band or replacing an existing band member with you.

The lesson for you here?

Pay attention to other bands around your area. They may be open to finding the right musicians who are hungry for music business success. And if you follow the previous rule (of becoming the kind of musician others would want to play in a band with), you may just land an opportunity for playing in a band with real pros.

Imagine what you will achieve when you finally have the right musicians in your band. When you have musicians who don’t merely talk, but instead take consistent focused action every single day, your path forward will immediately become so much easier. You’ll begin to transform your dream into a reality.

And if you want to do one thing today to become the musician others want to play in a band with, apply for the Music Careers Mentoring Program. In this program, I’ll walk you through the steps of building a successful music career and reaching your goals in the music business. I’ve mentored hundreds of musicians to build full-time music careers and many of them are living the dream right now. You can be next. Click the Start Now Button below to learn more.

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About Tom Hess: Tom Hess is a guitar teacher, music career mentor and guitar teacher trainer. He trains musicians how to leave their day jobs and build successful fulltime careers in the music industry.

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